"Metropia" Style 2.5D Animation Questions

I am working on an animation project for which I want to achieve a semi-realistic", textured look. While doing research, I stumbled upon the movie "Metropia", which visually is exactly what I am looking for.

Like the "Metropia" movie, I would like to animate as much as possible in After Effects.
I already set up a test face with all the necessary layers (eye open/close, phonemes, eyebrows, etc..) and "rigged" them. Partially with Dan Ebberts "marker triggering", partially with the "time remapping" method.

It seems to me though, that the "Metropia" guys didn't work with the "phoneme replacement method" but rather separated teeth & lips and animated the lips with the puppet tool.
Am i right? Do you have any exeriences or insights reagrding that kind of animation?

What drives me crazy is the main characters head turns. Not only seems e.g. the perspective of the nose to shift correctly, but also the head turn reveals (formerly hidden) parts of the cheek, hair and ear. I understand that you can fake the ear with moving the separate ear layers in the opposite direction of the head turn.
But how did they do it with the cheek, hair and nose?